The Arizona sentinel., 1887-01-01
JUDAH p. BENJAMIN.
The Remarkable Success of the Confed,
 ate Secretary in England.

The Remarkable Success of the Confeder-
 ate Secretary in England.
 The past publication of an unpreten-
 tious little volume affords me the well
 come opportunity of referring here
 and now to the great career of dis
 tinguished countrYmen of yours, the
 late MT. Benjamin. With Benjamin as
 Attorney General, Minister of War and
 Secretary in the Confederate Govern ment, take no concern, except to re- mark that considering the age at which
 he came from fore gn country to the English bar, 1 agree with the VT ter of
 "A Generation of Judges that his sue cess here as a barr ster ''is without par
 allel in professional annals" Although the hook is about judges, yet Benja- min and our native Karslake are in- cluded also, seeing that they were pecul-
 iarly distinguished lawyers, and es-
 capped being created judges by special accidents. If Benjamin had accepted
 the judgeship of the Supreme Court of the United States, which was offered to him by President Pierce, or if he had come by a fatal mishap in the adven- lures of his escare after the collapse of the Southern cause, a unique figure would have been lost to the annals of the English bar. The friendly reception of him here, in spite of any difference on the subject of American politics or any pos sible feeling of repugnance to him as an interloping alien, will always be placed 10 the credit of the generosity and open-m ndedness of the bar of En- gland. His marvellous progress and his fabulous fees excited no jealousy. but rather satisfaction and admiration. It was some judge. if 1 mistake not, who recommended any one that desired the highest intellectual treat, to step into court and hear Benjamin arguing a case. One good story is told here which I never heard before. and perhaps it will be new on your s'de. It indi- cates the marked sense that Benjamin posses ed, not merely of his own per- sonal dignity, but of the respect that is due to the bar from the bench The in- cident happened toward the end of the session of 1881. Benjamin was arguing case in the House of Lords, with Lord Selborne presiding. Fol lowing his accustomed manner. the learned counsel very early in his argu- ment formulated the propositions of law for which he proposed to contend. One of these. when set forth in its bare form, without having been led up to or supported by the substructure of reason ing which Benjamin had the skill to make-to look SO solid and compact, and sll,,zkrokio-, f-1,z, repertorv, drew from Lord Chancellor SeIborne the impatient exclamation; 'Nonesensem Benjamin stopped short, slowly put his papers together, ed the tape round them, made low bow, and left the bar of the house. His junior had immediately to fill the breach; but before he had proceeded far with his argument the Lord Chancellor inter- rupted him in order to give expression to his regret that Mir. Benjamin had left the house, and his fear that he himself was the cause of it in saying what he ought not to have said. It is unneces- sary to say to any one who knows the Chr stian conscientiousnesS and we'll bred gentility of Lord Selborne that his lordship must have been suffering severely when such an expression escaped the barrier of his teeth or even framed itself in his mind, and it is to be observed that in a very short time thereafter Lord Selborne found it neces- sary, through indispos.t .tion, to abstain for time from the labors of his office. The magnificent reception accorded to Beniam in the Inner Temple hall in June, 1888, when he retired from the is a memory to be cherished by all who were privileged to be pres ent on that interesting occasion am not willing to suppose that my personal in recalling these points in the career and character of a great who has also proved him self one of the very greatest of the able men who adorned the bar of England, has been the means of Inficting bore dom on your readers, who will no doubt be generally familiar with the phases of Benjamin sstrange. eventful history London Cor. Prori- dence y0Nr"Gh.